Baton Rouge law enforcement officials had warned 19-year-old gang member Trevor Georgetown in April that if he or his friends were involved in a crime, they would crack down. After Georgetown was suspected in a murder just a couple of months later, officials announced Thursday that they kept their word and arrested him and eight other people possibly connected to his gang.

“We’ve drawn a line in the sand, and we’re holding up our end of the bargain,” Baton Rouge provisional Police Chief Carl Dabadie said.

Trevor Georgetown

Georgetown was one of a group of 38 known criminals who attended a “call-in” in April of the Baton Rouge Area Violence Elimination, or BRAVE, project. At the call-in, officials offered the attendees services such as job placement assistance and mental health services, meant to help get them off the streets. But officials also told the attendees that if they didn’t accept the services, they were putting them on notice and would keep a close watch on them.

Several of the attendees took officials up on their offer for help, but Georgetown wasn’t one of them, District Attorney Hillar Moore said at a press conference Thursday.

Georgetown, a known member of the “Block Boyz” gang, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of the June 5 murder of 19-year-old Franklin Ely Lara in Gardere. According to the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, Georgetown robbed and fatally shot Lara, who was sitting in a pickup truck on the 1700 block of Jade Avenue.

“Georgetown bragged to witnesses that he committed the murder, even showing them the weapon he used,” East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux said.

Georgetown was already in custody on suspicion of a burglary charge when he was booked Wednesday in connection with the murder.

After determining Georgetown was a suspect, Baton Rouge police, the sheriff’s office, the district attorney’s office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives did a “warrant roundup” on Wednesday and arrested eight other people, many of whom are believed to be connected to the Block Boyz gang. Officials said the eight were arrested on charges ranging from driving without a license to burglary and assault.

“When we warned you, we were not making idle threats,” Gautreaux said at the press conference Thursday, trying to get a message to the others involved in the call-in. “We have given you positive alternatives. If you chose to continue to be a criminal, we are coming after you. We are coming after your people and your fellow gang members – your boys.”

Officials said they had already been working on those warrant arrests, and weren’t waiting for the homicide to happen before they arrested the suspects.

“All of these arrests were in process, but having information with the homicide and targeting this group, we wanted to go out in force, collectively as we did, to send out a positive message,” Gautreaux said.

The law enforcement officials touted a reduction in crime at Thursday’s conference, and attributed some of that to the BRAVE program: District Attorney Hillar Moore said that as of Thursday morning, there had been 18 fewer homicides in the parish than there were at this point last year.

According to NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune records, there have been 39 violent deaths so far this year, including three accidental shootings, a shooting that police say was justified and in self-defense, and an officer-involved shooting.